Medical Keynote II
The Operating Room: the least understood “high stakes” work space
Humans routinely occupy “high stakes” work environments across a broad spectrum of disciplines and endeavors. In such places human decisions and performance potentially impact for better or worse, human health & safety, vital security and even business enterprises. Whether considering the cockpit of a commercial airliner, the control room of a nuclear power plant or the operation center of a national defense organization, work flow, decision making structure, human factors and ergonomic considerations have been studied and planned often to the minutest detail. Surprisingly the same cannot be said about the operating room and perioperative environment, one of the highest stakes working spaces that exist. In this presentation the increasing focus on patient safety and quality care in the perioperative environment will be discussed. Our limited understanding of human factors and ergonomic risk factor violations in the operating room and what is now being done to mitigate them will be presented. As well current views on operative work flow will be discussed, as will measures being taken to address the problem of “distraction & disruption” in the operating room.